Uplink null data packet format for passive location

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to uplink (UL) null data packet (NDP) format for passive location. A device may cause to send a trigger frame that solicits poll response to one or more anchor stations involved in a passive ranging measurement. The device may identify one or more polling response frames received from the one or more anchor stations. The device may cause to send a trigger frame that solicits uplink null data packet (NDP) to the one or more anchor stations, wherein the uplink NDP comprises an indication of a high efficiency (HE) single user (SU) frame type. The device may identify one or more uplink NDPs received from the one or more anchor stations

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/635,694, filed Feb. 27, 2018 and U.S. Provisional Application No.62/645,314, filed Mar. 20, 2018, both disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference as if set forth in full.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure generally relates to systems, methods, and devices forwireless communications and, more particularly, uplink (UL) null datapacket (NDP) format for passive location.

BACKGROUND

Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasinglyrequesting access to wireless channels. The Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards thatutilize Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channelallocation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a diagram illustrating an example network environment ofillustrative uplink (UL) null data packet (NDP) format for passivelocation system, in accordance with one or more example embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIGS. 2A-2B depict illustrative schematic diagrams for UL NDP format forpassive location, in accordance with one or more example embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIGS. 3A-3G depict illustrative schematic diagrams for availabilitywindow, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts a flow diagram of illustrative process for a UL NDPformat for passive location system, in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts a functional diagram of an example communication station,in accordance with one or more example embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts a block diagram of an example machine upon which any ofone or more techniques (e.g., methods) may be performed, in accordancewith one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture in accordance withsome examples.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example front-end module circuitry for use in theradio architecture of FIG. 7 in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example radio IC circuitry for use in the radioarchitecture of FIG. 7 in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example baseband processing circuitry for use inthe radio architecture of FIG. 7 in accordance with some examples.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Example embodiments described herein provide certain systems, methods,and devices, for signaling schedule for location measurement feedbackreport in wireless local area network (WLAN).

The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustratespecific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practicethem. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical,process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodimentsmay be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments.Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalentsof those claims.

In the development of 802.11az, a passive location mode may be designedthat could potentially support unlimited number of passive clients toimplement positioning simultaneously. The 802.11az task group (TGaz)agreed to design the measurement part based on the high efficiency (HE)multi-user (MU) measurement sequence. In the HE MU measurement sequence(trigger-based ranging protocol), the master access point (AP) sendstrigger frame to solicit the uplink (UL) null data packet (NDP) from theanchor station, and the UL NDP has trigger-based physical layer (PHY)protocol data unit (PPDU) format. In the passive location, the passiveclient needs to listen to the NDP frame exchanges between the master APand the anchor station. In general, the passive client is non-APstation, and in general, the non-AP station cannot decode thetrigger-based PPDU.

The 802.11az specification mentions the use of availability windows toschedule a group of HEz stations (e.g., stations that support 802.11ax)for multi user ranging. The basic idea is the creation and advertisementof a series of periodic scheduled availability windows within which agroup of iSTAs (initiating STAs) will perform with the rSTA (respondingSTA) ranging related activities (e.g., polling, measurement via uplink(UL) and downlink (DL) sounding, and communication of measurementresults). The specification also specifies the sequence of UL and DLsounding frame exchanges that ought to occur between the rSTA andmultiple HEz STAs for measurement phase. While the specificationmentions that the availability windows are scheduled, it does notdescribe how those schedules are created, advertised and subsequentlymodified to suit the changes in the operating conditions ofparticipating rSTA and iSTAs over time. In particular modifications areneeded under the scenarios described below:

(1) The rSTA's ability to accommodate schedules preferred by iSTAs thatintend to perform HEz ranging with the rSTA decreases with the increasein the number of iSTAs. An rSTA may advertise a new availability windowschedule as a result.

(2) An iSTA already participating in HEz ranging with an rSTA may wantto change its frequency of HEz ranging (e.g., when the iSTA startsmoving and therefore need to perform range estimates more often) or mayhave additional scheduling constraints (a new time sensitive or latencybound data connection that renders the current ranging availabilitywindow unusable). Here, the iSTA may request the rSTA for a modificationto the negotiated availability window to fit its current operatingconditions.

Some options may exist for frame exchanges during negotiations in HEzranging so that an rSTA can advertise its availability window schedulesto other iSTAs. The solution is not dynamic as (a) the assignment of aniSTA to an availability window happens only during negotiation and (b)no mechanism is provided for an rSTA to indicate its flexibility toaccept an availability window schedule from an iSTA outside theadvertised ones.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems,methods, and devices for UL NDP format for passive location.

In one embodiment, a UL NDP format for passive location system mayaddress the uplink sounding NDP format for passive location and mayminimize the hardware change at the passive client side.

In one embodiment, a UL NDP format for passive location system may usethe HE single user (SU) NDP format for the UL NDP in passive location,such that the passive client can decode the SU NDP without hardwarechange.

In one or more embodiments, the passive client may listen for the UL NDPfrom each of the anchor stations and the DL NDP from the master AP. Ingeneral, only the AP can decode a trigger-based PPDU. Typically, apassive client is a non-AP STA and thus cannot decode a trigger -basedPPDU, but it's a mandatory requirement of 802.11 spec for the non-AP STAto decode the SU PPDU. In other words, only AP can decode the triggerbased (TB) PPDU. Since the passive client is in general a non-AP STA,for example, mobile phone or laptop, the passive client cannot decode TBPPDU. For example, after receiving the trigger frame, the anchor STAwill response with HE SU PPDU NDP, such that the passive client canreceive and decode the SU NDP.

The format of the trigger-based PPDU is different from the SU PPDU. Forexample, the HE-SIG-Al field included in a trigger-based PPDU and an SUPPDU may contain information that would differentiate a trigger-basedPPDU from an SU PPDU. Also, the length of the HE-STF field of thetrigger-based PPDU and SU PPDU are different.

In one more embodiments, a passive client would need to decode the ULNDP(s) and the DL NDP frames in order to derive timing information fromthese frames. The timing information may then assist the passive clientdevice to determine its own location. However, if during locationranging measurement the master AP and the anchor stations, the anchorstations send their UL NDPs using a trigger-based PPDU, the passiveclient would not be able to decode these UL NDPs in order to retrieve orotherwise identify timing information included in each of the UL NDPsbecause the passive client may not have the capability to decodetrigger-based PPDU.

In one or more embodiments, the anchor stations may respond using an HESU PPDU format of their UL NDP sent in response to a trigger framesoliciting UL NDP received from the master AP. In essence, the passiveclient would hear or otherwise detect the UL NDPs from the anchorstations and may decode the UL NDPs because of the indication of thePPDU frame type being HE SU PPDU and not trigger-based.

In one embodiment, a system may address the problem of how an rSTA andiSTA in MU-Hez operations can perform flexible scheduling by accountingfor such dynamic changes to respective scheduling constraints.

In one embodiment, a system may facilitate that the rSTA can indicatewhether their advertised availability window schedule is flexible or notto the iSTAs; the iSTA can request the rSTA with a schedule that is notadvertised only informer case.

In one embodiment, the rSTA can amend the advertised availability windowschedule and indicate that to the iSTA(s) during HEz protocol executionwithin an availability window.

In one embodiment, the iSTA can send new schedule change requests to therSTA during HEz protocol execution within an availability window.

In one embodiment, the system may make it more flexible with minimaladditional overhead. The enhancement occurs because the availabilitywindow schedules created by the rSTA can now more closely reflect theneeds of an iSTA without sacrificing any rSTA centric design.

The above descriptions are for purposes of illustration and are notmeant to be limiting. Numerous other examples, configurations,processes, etc., may exist, some of which are described in detail below.Example embodiments will now be described with reference to theaccompanying figures.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example network environment, inaccordance with one or more example embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices120 and one or more access point(s) (AP) 102, which may communicate inaccordance with IEEE 802.11 communication standards. The user device(s)120 may be mobile devices that are non-stationary (e.g., not havingfixed locations) or may be stationary devices.

In some embodiments, the user devices 120, and the AP(s) 102 may includeone or more computer systems similar to that of the functional diagramof FIG. 5 and/or the example machine/system of FIG. 6.

One or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may beoperable by one or more user(s) 110. It should be noted that anyaddressable unit may be a station (STA). An STA may take on multipledistinct characteristics, each of which shape its function. For example,a single addressable unit might simultaneously be a portable STA, aquality-of-service (QoS) STA, a dependent STA, and a hidden STA. The oneor more illustrative user device(s) 120 and the AP(s) 102 may be STAs.The one or more illustrative user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 mayoperate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point/accesspoint (PCP/AP). The user device(s) 120 (e.g., 124, 126, or 128) and/orAP(s) 102 may include any suitable processor-driven device including,but not limited to, a mobile device or a non-mobile, e.g., a static,device. For example, user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may include, auser equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point (AP), a softwareenabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wirelessdevice (e.g., bracelet, watch, glasses, ring, etc.), a desktop computer,a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook™ computer, a notebookcomputer, a tablet computer, a server computer, a handheld computer, ahandheld device, an internet of things (IoT) device, a sensor device, aPDA device, a handheld PDA device, an on-board device, an off-boarddevice, a hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionalitieswith PDA device functionalities), a consumer device, a vehicular device,a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a non -mobile ornon-portable device, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a PCS device,a PDA device which incorporates a wireless communication device, amobile or portable GPS device, a DVB device, a relatively smallcomputing device, a non-desktop computer, a “carry small live large”(CSLL) device, an ultra mobile device (UMD), an ultra mobile PC (UMPC),a mobile internet device (MID), an “origami” device or computing device,a device that supports dynamically composable computing (DCC), acontext-aware device, a video device, an audio device, an A/V device, aset-top-box (STB), a blu-ray disc (BD) player, a BD recorder, a digitalvideo disc (DVD) player, a high definition (HD) DVD player, a DVDrecorder, a HD DVD recorder, a personal video recorder (PVR), abroadcast HD receiver, a video source, an audio source, a video sink, anaudio sink, a stereo tuner, a broadcast radio receiver, a flat paneldisplay, a personal media player (PMP), a digital video camera (DVC), adigital audio player, a speaker, an audio receiver, an audio amplifier,a gaming device, a data source, a data sink, a digital still camera(DSC), a media player, a smartphone, a television, a music player, orthe like. Other devices, including smart devices such as lamps, climatecontrol, car components, household components, appliances, etc. may alsobe included in this list.

As used herein, the term “Internet of Things (IoT) device” is used torefer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has anaddressable interface (e.g., an Internet protocol (IP) address, aBluetooth identifier (ID), a near-field communication (NFC) ID, etc.)and can transmit information to one or more other devices over a wiredor wireless connection. An IoT device may have a passive communicationinterface, such as a quick response (QR) code, a radio-frequencyidentification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, or the like, or an activecommunication interface, such as a modem, a transceiver, atransmitter-receiver, or the like. An IoT device can have a particularset of attributes (e.g., a device state or status, such as whether theIoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available fortask execution or busy, and so on, a cooling or heating function, anenvironmental monitoring or recording function, a light-emittingfunction, a sound-emitting function, etc.) that can be embedded inand/or controlled/monitored by a central processing unit (CPU),microprocessor, ASIC, or the like, and configured for connection to anIoT network such as a local ad-hoc network or the Internet. For example,IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators,toasters, ovens, microwaves, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools,clothes washers, clothes dryers, furnaces, air conditioners,thermostats, televisions, light fixtures, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers,electricity meters, gas meters, etc., so long as the devices areequipped with an addressable communications interface for communicatingwith the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cell phones, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), etc. Accordingly, the IoT network may be comprised ofa combination of “legacy” Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop ordesktop computers, cell phones, etc.) in addition to devices that do nottypically have Internet-connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

The user device(s) 120 and/or AP(s) 102 may also include mesh stationsin, for example, a mesh network, in accordance with one or more IEEE802.11 standards and/or 3GPP standards.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may be configured to communicate with each other via one ormore communications networks 130 and/or 135 wirelessly or wired. Theuser device(s) 120 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly witheach other with or without the AP(s) 102. Any of the communicationsnetworks 130 and/or 135 may include, but not limited to, any one of acombination of different types of suitable communications networks suchas, for example, broadcasting networks, cable networks, public networks(e.g., the Internet), private networks, wireless networks, cellularnetworks, or any other suitable private and/or public networks. Further,any of the communications networks 130 and/or 135 may have any suitablecommunication range associated therewith and may include, for example,global networks (e.g., the Internet), metropolitan area networks (MANs),wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), or personal areanetworks (PANs). In addition, any of the communications networks 130and/or 135 may include any type of medium over which network traffic maybe carried including, but not limited to, coaxial cable, twisted-pairwire, optical fiber, a hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) medium, microwaveterrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication mediums, whitespace communication mediums, ultra-high frequency communication mediums,satellite communication mediums, or any combination thereof.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128) andAP(s) 102 may include one or more communications antennas. The one ormore communications antennas may be any suitable type of antennascorresponding to the communications protocols used by the user device(s)120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126 and 128), and AP(s) 102. Somenon-limiting examples of suitable communications antennas include Wi-Fiantennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)802.11 family of standards compatible antennas, directional antennas,non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patchantennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas,omnidirectional antennas, quasi -omnidirectional antennas, or the like.The one or more communications antennas may be communicatively coupledto a radio component to transmit and/or receive signals, such ascommunications signals to and/or from the user devices 120 and/or AP(s)102.

Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may be configured to perform directional transmission and/ordirectional reception in conjunction with wirelessly communicating in awireless network. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., user devices 124,126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform such directionaltransmission and/or reception using a set of multiple antenna arrays(e.g., DMG antenna arrays or the like). Each of the multiple antennaarrays may be used for transmission and/or reception in a particularrespective direction or range of directions. Any of the user device(s)120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configuredto perform any given directional transmission towards one or moredefined transmit sectors. Any of the user device(s) 120 (e.g., userdevices 124, 126, 128), and AP(s) 102 may be configured to perform anygiven directional reception from one or more defined receive sectors.

MIMO beamforming in a wireless network may be accomplished using RFbeamforming and/or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, inperforming a given MIMO transmission, user devices 120 and/or AP(s) 102may be configured to use all or a subset of its one or morecommunications antennas to perform MIMO beamforming.

Any of the user devices 120 (e.g., user devices 124, 126, 128), andAP(s) 102 may include any suitable radio and/or transceiver fortransmitting and/or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in thebandwidth and/or channels corresponding to the communications protocolsutilized by any of the user device(s) 120 and AP(s) 102 to communicatewith each other. The radio components may include hardware and/orsoftware to modulate and/or demodulate communications signals accordingto pre-established transmission protocols. The radio components mayfurther have hardware and/or software instructions to communicate viaone or more Wi-Fi and/or Wi-Fi direct protocols, as standardized by theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with devices and/or networksoperating in accordance with existing. Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi)Alliance (WFA) Specifications, including Wi-Fi Neighbor AwarenessNetworking (NAN) Technical Specification (e.g., NAN and NAN2) and/orfuture versions and/or derivatives thereof, devices and/or networksoperating in accordance with existing WFA Peer-to-Peer (P2P)specifications and/or future versions and/or derivatives thereof,devices and/or networks operating in accordance with existing Wireless-Gigabit-Alliance (WGA) specifications (Wireless Gigabit Alliance, Inc.WiGig MAC and PHY Specification) and/or future versions and/orderivatives thereof, devices and/or networks operating in accordancewith existing IEEE 802.11 standards and/or amendments (e.g., 802.11b,802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11az,etc.).

In certain example embodiments, the radio component, in cooperation withthe communications antennas, may be configured to communicate via 2.4GHz channels (e.g., 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, 802.11ax), 5 GHz channels(e.g., 802.11n, 802.11ac, 802.11ax), or 60 GHZ channels (e.g.,802.11ad). In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used forcommunications between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-rangecommunication (DSRC), Ultra-High Frequency (UHF) (e.g., IEEE 802.11af,IEEE 802.22), white band frequency (e.g., white spaces), or otherpacketized radio communications. The radio component may include anyknown receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via thecommunications protocols. The radio component may further include a lownoise amplifier (LNA), additional signal amplifiers, ananalog-to-digital (A/D) converter, one or more buffers, and digitalbaseband.

In one embodiment, and with reference to FIG. 1, a user device 120 maybe in communication with one or more APs 102.

For example, AP 102 and/or a user device 120 may determine a UL NDPformat for passive location 140. It is understood that the abovedescriptions are for purposes of illustration and are not meant to belimiting.

FIGS. 2A-2B depict illustrative schematic diagrams for UL NDP format forpassive location, in accordance with one or more example embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

In one embodiment, in the passive location mode, the measurementsequence shown in FIG. 2A may be used for the frame exchanges betweenthe master AP 232 and anchor stations (ASs) 233 and 234. It should benoted that there could be more than two anchor stations in the system.Further, there is shown in FIG. 2A a client device 235 (referred toherein as client 235) that acts as a passive client device capable ofcapturing and decoding some of the frames exchanged between the masterAP 232, the AS 233, and the AS 234.

In one embodiment, the master AP to 32 may send a poll trigger frame 236to poll the anchor stations 233 and 234. The anchor stations 233 and 234may respond each with a poll response (PR) frame (e.g., PR frame 237 andPR frame 238). The master AP 232 may then send an uplink NDP solicitingtrigger frame (UL NDP TF 241) to the anchor stations 233 and 234. Aftera short inter-frame space (SIFS) of receiving the UL NDP TF 239, theanchor stations 233 and/or 234 may transmit a UL NDP (e.g., UL NDP 240from AS 233 and UL NDP 242 from AS 234), and all the passive clients(e.g., client 235) need to listen to this UL NDP (e.g., UL NDP 240 fromAS 233 and UL NDP 242 from AS 234) and based on the UL NDP, determinetiming information associated with the UL NDP, for example, the client235 may estimate the time of arrival of the respective UL NDP. Each ULNDP TF (e.g., UL NDP TF 239 may trigger AS 233 and UL NDP TF 241 maytrigger AS 234) may only trigger one anchor station, and rather thanusing a trigger-based PPDU format for the UL NDP (e.g., UL NDP 240 andUL NDP 242), a high efficiency (HE) sounding NDP PPDU format in 802.11axmay be used for the UL NDP as shown in FIG. 2B.

Referring to FIG. 2B, there is shown a high-efficiency (HE) Sounding NDPPPDU format. The HE Sounding NDP PPDU comprises one or more fields suchas, legacy short training field (L-STF), a legacy long training field(L-LTF), a legacy signal field (L-SIG), a repeat L-SIG, a HE-SIG-Afield, a HE-STF, a HE-LTF, and a packet extension (PE) field. The HESounding NDP PPDU may be used by the anchor stations (e.g., AS 233 andAS 234) when sending their UL NDP to the master AP 232. The passiveclient 235 may receive the HE Sounding NDP PPDU (e.g., UL NDP 240 and ULNDP 242) without hardware change. Receiving the sounding NDP PPDUincludes the capability to identify the frame and the ability to decodeit. For example, the passive client 235 may receive the UL NDP 240 anddecode the one or more fields included in the UL NDP 240. Since the ULNDP 240 follows the HE Sounding NDP PPDU format, it contains a HE-SIG-Afield that may comprise an indication of the type of the PPDU. Further,the HE-SIG -A field of the UL NDP 240 may be set based on the UL NDP TF239 received from the master AP 232. For example, the HE-SIG-A field maybe copied in the common info field of UL NDP TF 239.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes ofillustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIGS. 3A-3B depict illustrative schematic diagrams for availabilitywindow, in accordance with one or more example embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

Referring to FIG. 2A, there is shown an availability window consistingof a single round of poll, measurement (i.e., UL and DL sounding) andcommunication of measurement results.

The 802.11az specification mentions the use of availability windows toschedule a group of HEz stations (i.e., stations that support 802.11ax)for multi user ranging. The basic idea is the creation and advertisementof a series of periodic scheduled availability windows within which agroup of iSTAs will perform with the rSTA ranging related activities(i.e., polling, measurement via UL and DL sounding, and communication ofmeasurement results as shown in FIG. 2A).

The 802.11az also specifies the sequence of UL and DL sounding frameexchanges that ought to occur between the rSTA and multiple HEz STAs formeasurement phase as shown in FIG. 2B.

FIGS. 3C-3G depict illustrative schematic diagrams for a dynamicavailability window, in accordance with one or more example embodimentsof the present disclosure.

In one embodiment, an rSTA may announce whether it can accept a proposedavailability window from iSTA(s) outside the advertised ones. Note thatthe flexibility can change dynamically. For example, when there are manyiSTAs with which the rSTA is operating, the rSTA's availability windowis likely to be inflexible. However if the number of iSTAs decrease therSTA's availability window may become flexible.

In one embodiment, an rSTA can advertise an amended schedule forsubsequent operation within the current availability window.

In one embodiment, an iSTA may request to amend the current availabilitywindow schedule to the rSTA in the availability window.

In one embodiment, an rSTA may announce its flexibility to currentlyadvertised schedules in beacons and probe responses. If the availabilitywindow schedule is flexible, this means the rSTA may accept a proposedschedule that is not in the list of the availability windows advertisedby the rSTA, from an iSTA. An example of how an iSTA can use thisinformation to negotiate a schedule with the rSTA is shown in FIG. 3C.

FIG. 3C shows an example of how an iSTA can request an rSTA for aschedule (s3) that is outside of current advertised ones (s1, s2) if therSTA indicates inside a beacon that its availability window schedulesare flexible.

In one embodiment, if the rSTA announces its availability windows to beinflexible, then an iSTA shall not request the rSTA, a preferredavailability window schedule outside the one that is advertised.

In one embodiment, the decision about when and how the rSTA determinesthat its advertised availability window schedule is flexible isimplementation-specific. Whether the schedules are flexible or not canbe indicated by using a bit in the HEz Specific Parameters subelement ifit is sent inside beacon or probe response frames. Whether the schedulesare flexible or not can be indicated by using a reserved bit in theCapability Information field inside a Beacon or Probe Response frame.For example, for a non-DMG rSTA the bit B6 of the Capability Informationcan be reused by setting it to 1 to indicate flexible schedule and to 0otherwise.

Referring to FIG. 3D there is shown a modified Capability Informationfield of a non -DMG rSTA.

In one embodiment, a rSTA indicates an amended availability windowschedule in one or more of the DL NDP Trigger frames and/or insubsequent polling trigger frames in the same availability window.

In one embodiment, a rSTA can receive a request from an iSTA to changeits existing schedule as a response to a sent trigger frame.

In one embodiment, the trigger frame may be sent to the iSTA in anavailability window during polling as shown in FIG. 3E.

FIG. 3E shows an example of an iSTA (iSTA-1) requesting a newavailability window by indicating the same inside the response to thepolling Trigger frame. On receipt of this request, rSTA indicates thenew schedule for iSTA-1 inside the DL NDP trigger frame.

In order to reduce overhead, an rSTA may only allow an iSTA to request anew schedule occasionally. This can be indicated by using one of the 4reserved bits in the Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield for theLocation variant inside the sent polling trigger frame as shown in FIG.3F; the polled iSTAs can indicate their willingness to change schedulein the corresponding response only when this bit is set to 1.

FIG. 3F shows an example of a modified Trigger Dependent Common Infosubfield for the Location variant with a newly defined bit (ChangeSchedule) to indicate the rSTA can receive requests to change currentavailability window.

In one embodiment, the iSTA may indicate a preferred availability windowschedule other than one that is advertised by the rSTA if the rSTA hasindicated its flexibility to accommodate new schedule.

In one embodiment, in order to reduce overhead, in the response to thetrigger frame an iSTA may only indicate its intention to change itsavailability window schedule without actually indicating the exactpreferred availability window schedule. The rSTA and iSTA may carry outadditional frame exchange outside the current availability window tocomplete migration of the iSTA to a new availability window.

Referring to FIG. 3G, there is shown an example of how an iSTA may onlyindicate a schedule change request to the rSTA during polling while theactual requested schedule may be conveyed to the rSTA in a separateframe exchange.

FIG. 3G shows an example of an iSTA (iSTA-1) requesting a newavailability window by indicating the same inside the response to thepolling Trigger frame. On receipt of this request, rSTA knows thatiSTA-1 wants to change schedule; iSTA-1 may covey the actual requestedschedule to rSTA outside the availability window (for example, asresponse to some Trigger frame from rSTA similar to the MU- rangingnegotiation process in the 802.11az specification).

Note that all schedule amendments if accepted by the rSTA will beeffective from the subsequent HEz ranging protocol execution window. Ifthe rSTA does not accept the change proposed by the iSTA or if the iSTAcannot operate with the new schedule advertised by the rSTA, the iSTAeither has to abort the session or change its operating conditions tomatch the availability window schedule.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of illustrative process 400 for anillustrative UL NDP format for passive location system, in accordancewith one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure.

At block 402, a device (e.g., the user device(s) 120 and/or the AP 102of FIG. 1) may cause to send a trigger frame that solicits poll responseto one or more anchor stations involved in a passive rangingmeasurement. The trigger frame that solicits uplink null data packet(NDP) may trigger a first anchor station of the one or more anchorstations to send uplink NDP. The one or more uplink NDPs may behigh-efficiency sounding NDP physical layer convergence protocol dataunits (PPDUs) associated with the SU frame type. In some examples, afirst high-efficiency sounding NDP PPDU may comprise a high-efficiencysignal A (HE-SIG-A) field. The HE-SIG -A field is set by the triggerframe that solicits the UL NDP. The HE-SIG-A field may be included in acommon information field of the trigger frame that solicits the UL NDP.

At block 404, the device may identify one or more polling responseframes received from the one or more anchor stations.

At block 406, the device may cause to send a trigger frame that solicitsuplink null data packet (NDP) to one or more anchor stations, whereinthe uplink NDP comprises an indication of a high efficiency (HE) singleuser (SU) frame type. The SU frame type may indicate to a passive clientdevice a capability to decode the uplink NDP.

At block 408, the device may identify one or more uplink NDPs receivedfrom the one or more anchor stations. Timing information associated withuplink NDP is used to assist the passive client device to determine itslocation.

It is understood that the above descriptions are for purposes ofillustration and are not meant to be limiting.

FIG. 5 shows a functional diagram of an exemplary communication station500 in accordance with some embodiments. In one embodiment, FIG. 5illustrates a functional block diagram of a communication station thatmay be suitable for use as an AP 102 (FIG. 1) or user device 120(FIG. 1) in accordance with some embodiments. The communication station500 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device,a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wirelessterminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, ahigh data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an accessterminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

The communication station 500 may include communications circuitry 502and a transceiver 510 for transmitting and receiving signals to and fromother communication stations using one or more antennas 501. Thetransceiver 510 may be a device comprising both a transmitter and areceiver that are combined and share common circuitry (e.g.,communication circuitry 502). The communication circuitry 502 mayinclude amplifiers, filters, mixers, analog to digital and/or digital toanalog converters. The transceiver 510 may transmit and receive analogor digital signals. The transceiver 510 may allow reception of signalsduring transmission periods. This mode is known as full-duplex, and mayrequire the transmitter and receiver to operate on different frequenciesto minimize interference between the transmitted signal and the receivedsignal. The transceiver 510 may operate in a half-duplex mode, where thetransceiver 510 may transmit or receive signals in one direction at atime.

The communications circuitry 502 may include circuitry that can operatethe physical layer (PHY) communications and/or medium access control(MAC) communications for controlling access to the wireless medium,and/or any other communications layers for transmitting and receivingsignals. The communication station 500 may also include processingcircuitry 506 and memory 508 arranged to perform the operationsdescribed herein. In some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502and the processing circuitry 506 may be configured to perform operationsdetailed in detailed in FIGS. 1-4.

In accordance with some embodiments, the communications circuitry 502may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames orpackets for communicating over the wireless medium. The communicationscircuitry 502 may be arranged to transmit and receive signals. Thecommunications circuitry 502 may also include circuitry formodulation/demodulation, upconversion/downconversion, filtering,amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 506 ofthe communication station 500 may include one or more processors. Inother embodiments, two or more antennas 501 may be coupled to thecommunications circuitry 502 arranged for sending and receiving signals.The memory 508 may store information for configuring the processingcircuitry 506 to perform operations for configuring and transmittingmessage frames and performing the various operations described herein.The memory 508 may include any type of memory, including non-transitorymemory, for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, the memory 508 may include a computer-readablestorage device, read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM),magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devicesand other storage devices and media.

In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may be part of aportable wireless communication device, such as a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wirelesscommunication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, asmartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, adigital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., aheart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computerdevice, or another device that may receive and/or transmit informationwirelessly.

In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one ormore antennas 501. The antennas 501 may include one or more directionalor omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas,monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas,or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. Insome embodiments, instead of two or more antennas, a single antenna withmultiple apertures may be used. In these embodiments, each aperture maybe considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output(MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated forspatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that mayresult between each of the antennas and the antennas of a transmittingstation.

In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may include one ormore of a keyboard, a display, a non-volatile memory port, multipleantennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, speakers, andother mobile device elements. The display may be an LCD screen includinga touch screen.

Although the communication station 500 is illustrated as having severalseparate functional elements, two or more of the functional elements maybe combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some embodiments, thefunctional elements of the communication station 500 may refer to one ormore processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination ofhardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also beimplemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storagedevice, which may be read and executed by at least one processor toperform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storagedevice may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storinginformation in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). Forexample, a computer-readable storage device may include read-only memory(ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, opticalstorage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices andmedia. In some embodiments, the communication station 500 may includeone or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored ona computer-readable storage device memory.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a machine 600 orsystem upon which any one or more of the techniques (e.g.,methodologies) discussed herein may be performed. In other embodiments,the machine 600 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected(e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, themachine 600 may operate in the capacity of a server machine, a clientmachine, or both in server-client network environments. In an example,the machine 600 may act as a peer machine in peer-to -peer (P2P) (orother distributed) network environments. The machine 600 may be apersonal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a wearable computer device,a web appliance, a network router, a switch or bridge, or any machinecapable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specifyactions to be taken by that machine, such as a base station. Further,while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shallalso be taken to include any collection of machines that individually orjointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform anyone or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloudcomputing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer clusterconfigurations.

Examples, as described herein, may include or may operate on logic or anumber of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangibleentities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operationswhen operating. A module includes hardware. In an example, the hardwaremay be specifically configured to carry out a specific operation (e.g.,hardwired). In another example, the hardware may include configurableexecution units (e.g., transistors, circuits, etc.) and a computerreadable medium containing instructions where the instructions configurethe execution units to carry out a specific operation when in operation.The configuring may occur under the direction of the executions units ora loading mechanism. Accordingly, the execution units arecommunicatively coupled to the computer-readable medium when the deviceis operating. In this example, the execution units may be a member ofmore than one module. For example, under operation, the execution unitsmay be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a firstmodule at one point in time and reconfigured by a second set ofinstructions to implement a second module at a second point in time.

The machine (e.g., computer system) 600 may include a hardware processor602 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit(GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a mainmemory 604 and a static memory 606, some or all of which may communicatewith each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 608. The machine 600 mayfurther include a power management device 632, a graphics display device610, an alphanumeric input device 612 (e.g., a keyboard), and a userinterface (UI) navigation device 614 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, thegraphics display device 610, alphanumeric input device 612, and UInavigation device 614 may be a touch screen display. The machine 600 mayadditionally include a storage device (i.e., drive unit) 616, a signalgeneration device 618 (e.g., a speaker), a UL NDP format for passivelocation device 619, a network interface device/transceiver 620 coupledto antenna(s) 630, and one or more sensors 628, such as a globalpositioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or othersensor. The machine 600 may include an output controller 634, such as aserial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired orwireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.)connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices(e.g., a printer, a card reader, etc.)).

The storage device 616 may include a machine readable medium 622 onwhich is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 624(e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of thetechniques or functions described herein. The instructions 624 may alsoreside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 604,within the static memory 606, or within the hardware processor 602during execution thereof by the machine 600. In an example, one or anycombination of the hardware processor 602, the main memory 604, thestatic memory 606, or the storage device 616 may constitutemachine-readable media.

The UL NDP format for passive location device 619 may carry out orperform any of the operations and processes (e.g., processes 400 and500) described and shown above.

The UL NDP format for passive location device 619 may address the uplinksounding NDP format for passive location and may minimize the hardwarechange at the passive client side.

In one embodiment, a UL NDP format for passive location system may usethe HE single user (SU) NDP format for the UL NDP in passive location,such that the passive client can decode the SU NDP without hardwarechange.

The UL NDP format for passive location device 619 may facilitate thatthe passive client may listen for the UL NDP from each of the anchorstations and the DL NDP from the master AP. In general, only the AP candecode a trigger-based PPDU. Typically, a passive client is a non-AP STAand thus cannot decode a trigger-based PPDU, but it's a mandatoryrequirement of 802.11 spec for the non-AP STA to decode the SU PPDU. Inother words, only AP can decode the trigger based (TB) PPDU. Since thepassive client is in general a non-AP STA, for example, mobile phone orlaptop, the passive client cannot decode TB PPDU. For example, afterreceiving the trigger frame, the anchor STA will response with HE SUPPDU NDP, such that the passive client can receive and decode the SUNDP.

The UL NDP format for passive location device 619 may facilitate thatthe format of the trigger-based PPDU is different from the SU PPDU. Forexample, the HE-SIG-Al field included in a trigger-based PPDU and an SUPPDU may contain information that would differentiate a trigger-basedPPDU from an SU PPDU. Also, the length of the HE-STF field of thetrigger-based PPDU and SU PPDU are different.

The UL NDP format for passive location device 619 may facilitate that apassive client would need to decode the UL NDP(s) and the DL NDP framesin order to derive timing information from these frames. The timinginformation may then assist the passive client device to determine itsown location. However, if during location ranging measurement the masterAP and the anchor stations, the anchor stations send their UL NDPs usinga trigger-based PPDU, the passive client would not be able to decodethese UL NDPs in order to retrieve or otherwise identify timinginformation included in each of the UL NDPs because the passive clientmay not have the capability to decode trigger-based PPDU.

The UL NDP format for passive location device 619 may facilitate thatthe anchor stations may respond using an HE SU PPDU format of their ULNDP sent in response to a trigger frame soliciting UL NDP received fromthe master AP. In essence, the passive client would hear or otherwisedetect the UL NDPs from the anchor stations and may decode the UL NDPsbecause of the indication of the PPDU frame type being HE SU PPDU andnot trigger-based.

It is understood that the above are only a subset of what the UL NDPformat for passive location device 619 may be configured to perform andthat other functions included throughout this disclosure may also beperformed by the UL NDP format for passive location device 619.

While the machine-readable medium 622 is illustrated as a single medium,the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium ormultiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/orassociated caches and servers) configured to store the one or moreinstructions 624.

Various embodiments may be implemented fully or partially in softwareand/or firmware. This software and/or firmware may take the form ofinstructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium. Those instructions may then be read and executed by oneor more processors to enable performance of the operations describedherein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as but notlimited to source code, compiled code, interpreted code, executablecode, static code, dynamic code, and the like. Such a computer -readablemedium may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storinginformation in a form readable by one or more computers, such as but notlimited to read only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magneticdisk storage media; optical storage media; a flash memory, etc.

The term “machine-readable medium” may include any medium that iscapable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution bythe machine 600 and that cause the machine 600 to perform any one ormore of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associatedwith such instructions. Non-limiting machine-readable medium examplesmay include solid-state memories and optical and magnetic media. In anexample, a massed machine-readable medium includes a machine-readablemedium with a plurality of particles having resting mass. Specificexamples of massed machine-readable media may include non-volatilememory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electricallyprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), or electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices;magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.

The instructions 624 may further be transmitted or received over acommunications network 626 using a transmission medium via the networkinterface device/transceiver 620 utilizing any one of a number oftransfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP),transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP),hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communicationsnetworks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephonenetworks (e.g., cellular networks), plain old telephone (POTS) networks,wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and ElectronicsEngineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards known as Wi -Fi®, IEEE802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family ofstandards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example,the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include one or morephysical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or moreantennas to connect to the communications network 626. In an example,the network interface device/transceiver 620 may include a plurality ofantennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-inputmultiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple -output (MIMO), ormultiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. The term “transmissionmedium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capableof storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine 600 and includes digital or analog communications signals orother intangible media to facilitate communication of such software. Theoperations and processes described and shown above may be carried out orperformed in any suitable order as desired in various implementations.Additionally, in certain implementations, at least a portion of theoperations may be carried out in parallel. Furthermore, in certainimplementations, less than or more than the operations described may beperformed.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example,instance, or illustration.” Any embodiment described herein as“exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred oradvantageous over other embodiments. The terms “computing device,” “userdevice,” “communication station,” “station,” “handheld device,” “mobiledevice,” “wireless device” and “user equipment” (UE) as used hereinrefers to a wireless communication device such as a cellular telephone,a smartphone, a tablet, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptopcomputer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, anaccess point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, orother personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may beeither mobile or stationary.

As used within this document, the term “communicate” is intended toinclude transmitting, or receiving, or both transmitting and receiving.This may be particularly useful in claims when describing theorganization of data that is being transmitted by one device andreceived by another, but only the functionality of one of those devicesis required to infringe the claim. Similarly, the bidirectional exchangeof data between two devices (both devices transmit and receive duringthe exchange) may be described as “communicating,” when only thefunctionality of one of those devices is being claimed. The term“communicating” as used herein with respect to a wireless communicationsignal includes transmitting the wireless communication signal and/orreceiving the wireless communication signal. For example, a wirelesscommunication unit, which is capable of communicating a wirelesscommunication signal, may include a wireless transmitter to transmit thewireless communication signal to at least one other wirelesscommunication unit, and/or a wireless communication receiver to receivethe wireless communication signal from at least one other wirelesscommunication unit.

As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of the ordinaladjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a commonobject, merely indicates that different instances of like objects arebeing referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects sodescribed must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, inranking, or in any other manner.

The term “access point” (AP) as used herein may be a fixed station. Anaccess point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station,an evolved node B (eNodeB), or some other similar terminology known inthe art. An access terminal may also be called a mobile station, userequipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similarterminology known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generallypertain to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to wirelessnetworks that operate in accordance with one of the IEEE 802.11standards.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices andsystems, for example, a personal computer (PC), a desktop computer, amobile computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tabletcomputer, a server computer, a handheld computer, a handheld device, apersonal digital assistant (PDA) device, a handheld PDA device, anon-board device, an off -board device, a hybrid device, a vehiculardevice, a non-vehicular device, a mobile or portable device, a consumerdevice, a non-mobile or non-portable device, a wireless communicationstation, a wireless communication device, a wireless access point (AP),a wired or wireless router, a wired or wireless modem, a video device,an audio device, an audio-video (A/V) device, a wired or wirelessnetwork, a wireless area network, a wireless video area network (WVAN),a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a personal areanetwork (PAN), a wireless PAN (WPAN), and the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one way and/or two-wayradio communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communicationsystems, a mobile phone, a cellular telephone, a wireless telephone, apersonal communication system (PCS) device, a PDA device whichincorporates a wireless communication device, a mobile or portableglobal positioning system (GPS) device, a device which incorporates aGPS receiver or transceiver or chip, a device which incorporates an RFIDelement or chip, a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) transceiver ordevice, a single input multiple output (SIMO) transceiver or device, amultiple input single output (MISO) transceiver or device, a devicehaving one or more internal antennas and/or external antennas, digitalvideo broadcast (DVB) devices or systems, multi -standard radio devicesor systems, a wired or wireless handheld device, e.g., a smartphone, awireless application protocol (WAP) device, or the like.

Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types ofwireless communication signals and/or systems following one or morewireless communication protocols, for example, radio frequency (RF),infrared (IR), frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM(OFDM), time-division multiplexing (TDM), time-division multiple access(TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS),extended GPRS, code-division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA(WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single -carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA,multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), Bluetooth®,global positioning system (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, ultra-wideband(UWB), global system for mobile communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G,3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, long termevolution (LTE), LTE advanced, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE), or the like. Other embodiments may be used in various otherdevices, systems, and/or networks.

The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

Example 1 may include a device comprising processing circuitry coupledto storage, the processing circuitry configured to: cause to send atrigger frame that solicits poll response to one or more anchor stationsinvolved in a passive ranging measurement; identify one or more pollingresponse frames received from the one or more anchor stations; cause tosend a trigger frame that solicits uplink null data packet (NDP) to oneor more anchor stations, wherein the uplink NDP comprises an indicationof an high efficiency (HE) single user (SU) frame type; and identify oneor more uplink NDPs received from the one or more anchor stations.

Example 2 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the trigger frame that solicits uplink null data packet(NDP) triggers a first anchor station of the one or more anchor stationsto send uplink NDP.

Example 3 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the one or more uplink NDPs are high-efficiency soundingNDP physical layer convergence protocol data units (PPDUs) associatedwith the SU frame type.

Example 4 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the SU frame type indicates to a passive client device acapability to decode the uplink NDP.

Example 5 may include the device of example 4 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein timing information associated with uplink NDP may beused to assist the passive client device to determine its location.

Example 6 may include the device of example 3 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein a first high-efficiency sounding NDP physical layerconvergence protocol data unit (PPDU) comprises a high-efficiency signalA (HE-SIG-A) field.

Example 7 may include the device of example 6 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the HE-SIG-A field may be set by the trigger frame thatsolicits the UL NDP.

Example 8 may include the device of example 6 and/or some other exampleherein, wherein the HE-SIG-A field may be included in a commoninformation field of the trigger frame that solicits the UL NDP.

Example 9 may include the device of example 1 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit andreceive wireless signals.

Example 10 may include the device of example 9 and/or some other exampleherein, further comprising an antenna coupled to the transceiver tocause to send the trigger frame that solicits poll response.

Example 11 may include a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions which when executed by one or moreprocessors result in performing operations comprising: causing to send atrigger frame that solicits poll response to one or more anchor stationsinvolved in a passive ranging measurement; identifying one or morepolling response frames received from the one or more anchor stations;causing to send a trigger frame that solicits uplink null data packet(NDP) to one or more anchor stations, wherein the uplink NDP comprisesan indication of an high efficiency (HE) single user (SU) frame type;and identifying one or more uplink NDPs received from the one or moreanchor stations.

Example 12 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the trigger framethat solicits UL NDP triggers a first anchor station of the one or moreanchor stations to send uplink NDP.

Example 13 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the one or moreuplink NDPs are high-efficiency sounding NDP physical layer convergenceprotocol data units (PPDUs) associated with the SU frame type.

Example 14 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 11 and/or some other example herein, wherein the SU frame typeindicates to a passive client device a capability to decode the uplinkNDP.

Example 15 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 14 and/or some other example herein, wherein timing informationof uplink NDP may be used to assist the passive client device todetermine its location.

Example 16 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 13 and/or some other example herein, wherein a firsthigh-efficiency sounding NDP physical layer convergence protocol dataunit (PPDU) comprises a high-efficiency signal A (HE-SIG-A) field.

Example 17 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 16 and/or some other example herein, wherein the HE-SIG-A fieldmay be set by the trigger frame that solicits the UL NDP.

Example 18 may include the non-transitory computer-readable medium ofexample 16 and/or some other example herein, wherein the HE-SIG-A fieldmay be included in a common information field of the trigger frame thatsolicits the UL NDP.

Example 19 may include a method comprising: causing, by one or moreprocessors, to send a trigger frame that solicits poll response to oneor more anchor stations involved in a passive ranging measurement;identifying one or more polling response frames received from the one ormore anchor stations; causing to send a trigger frame that solicitsuplink null data packet (NDP) to one or more anchor stations, whereinthe uplink NDP comprises an indication of an high efficiency (HE) singleuser (SU) frame type; and identifying one or more uplink NDPs receivedfrom the one or more anchor stations.

Example 20 may include the method of example 19 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the trigger frame that solicits UL NDP triggersa first anchor station of the one or more anchor stations to send uplinkNDP.

Example 21 may include the method of example 19 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the one or more uplink NDPs are high-efficiencysounding NDP physical layer convergence protocol data units (PPDUs)associated with the SU frame type.

Example 22 may include the method of example 19 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the SU frame type indicates to a passive clientdevice a capability to decode the uplink NDP.

Example 23 may include the method of example 22 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein timing information of uplink NDP may be used toassist the passive client device to determine its location.

Example 24 may include the method of example 21 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein a first high-efficiency sounding NDP physicallayer convergence protocol data unit (PPDU) comprises a high-efficiencysignal A (HE-SIG-A) field.

Example 25 may include the method of example 24 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the HE-SIG-A field may be set by the triggerframe that solicits the UL NDP.

Example 26 may include the method of example 24 and/or some otherexample herein, wherein the HE-SIG-A field may be included in a commoninformation field of the trigger frame that solicits the UL NDP.

Example 27 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-26, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 28 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-26, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 29 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-26, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 30 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-26, or portions thereof.

Example 31 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 32 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 33 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Embodiments according to the disclosure are in particular disclosed inthe attached claims directed to a method, a storage medium, a device anda computer program product, wherein any feature mentioned in one claimcategory, e.g., method, can be claimed in another claim category, e.g.,system, as well. The dependencies or references back in the attachedclaims are chosen for formal reasons only. However, any subject matterresulting from a deliberate reference back to any previous claims (inparticular multiple dependencies) can be claimed as well, so that anycombination of claims and the features thereof are disclosed and can beclaimed regardless of the dependencies chosen in the attached claims.The subject-matter which can be claimed comprises not only thecombinations of features as set out in the attached claims but also anyother combination of features in the claims, wherein each featurementioned in the claims can be combined with any other feature orcombination of other features in the claims. Furthermore, any of theembodiments and features described or depicted herein can be claimed ina separate claim and/or in any combination with any embodiment orfeature described or depicted herein or with any of the features of theattached claims.

The foregoing description of one or more implementations providesillustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Certain aspects of the disclosure are described above with reference toblock and flow diagrams of systems, methods, apparatuses, and/orcomputer program products according to various implementations. It willbe understood that one or more blocks of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and the flowdiagrams, respectively, may be implemented by computer-executableprogram instructions. Likewise, some blocks of the block diagrams andflow diagrams may not necessarily need to be performed in the orderpresented, or may not necessarily need to be performed at all, accordingto some implementations.

These computer-executable program instructions may be loaded onto aspecial-purpose computer or other particular machine, a processor, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a particularmachine, such that the instructions that execute on the computer,processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus create meansfor implementing one or more functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks. These computer program instructions may also be storedin a computer-readable storage media or memory that may direct acomputer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions stored in thecomputer-readable storage media produce an article of manufactureincluding instruction means that implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. As an example, certainimplementations may provide for a computer program product, comprising acomputer-readable storage medium having a computer -readable programcode or program instructions implemented therein, said computer-readableprogram code adapted to be executed to implement one or more functionsspecified in the flow diagram block or blocks. The computer programinstructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus to cause a series of operational elements orsteps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus toproduce a computer -implemented process such that the instructions thatexecute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide elementsor steps for implementing the functions specified in the flow diagramblock or blocks.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flow diagrams supportcombinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of elements or steps for performing the specified functionsand program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowdiagrams, may be implemented by special-purpose, hardware-based computersystems that perform the specified functions, elements or steps, orcombinations of special-purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey that certainimplementations could include, while other implementations do notinclude, certain features, elements, and/or operations. Thus, suchconditional language is not generally intended to imply that features,elements, and/or operations are in any way required for one or moreimplementations or that one or more implementations necessarily includelogic for deciding, with or without user input or prompting, whetherthese features, elements, and/or operations are included or are to beperformed in any particular implementation.

Many modifications and other implementations of the disclosure set forthherein will be apparent having the benefit of the teachings presented inthe foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isto be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to thespecific implementations disclosed and that modifications and otherimplementations are intended to be included within the scope of theappended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they areused in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a radio architecture 105A, 105B inaccordance with some embodiments that may be implemented in any one ofthe example AP 100 and/or the example STA 102 of FIG. 1. Radioarchitecture 105A, 105B may include radio front-end module (FEM)circuitry 704 a-b, radio IC circuitry 706 a-b and baseband processingcircuitry 708 a-b. Radio architecture 105A, 105B as shown includes bothWireless Local Area Network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT)functionality although embodiments are not so limited. In thisdisclosure, “WLAN” and “Wi-Fi” are used interchangeably.

FEM circuitry 704 a-b may include a WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuitry 704 aand a Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuitry 704 b. The WLAN FEM circuitry 704 amay include a receive signal path comprising circuitry configured tooperate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 701, toamplify the received signals and to provide the amplified versions ofthe received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuitry 706 a for furtherprocessing. The BT FEM circuitry 704 b may include a receive signal pathwhich may include circuitry configured to operate on BT RF signalsreceived from one or more antennas 701, to amplify the received signalsand to provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the BTradio IC circuitry 706 b for further processing. FEM circuitry 704 a mayalso include a transmit signal path which may include circuitryconfigured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuitry706 a for wireless transmission by one or more of the antennas 701. Inaddition, FEM circuitry 704 b may also include a transmit signal pathwhich may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided bythe radio IC circuitry 706 b for wireless transmission by the one ormore antennas. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, although FEM 704 a and FEM704 b are shown as being distinct from one another, embodiments are notso limited, and include within their scope the use of an FEM (not shown)that includes a transmit path and/or a receive path for both WLAN and BTsignals, or the use of one or more FEM circuitries where at least someof the FEM circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths forboth WLAN and BT signals.

Radio IC circuitry 706 a-b as shown may include WLAN radio IC circuitry706 a and BT radio IC circuitry 706 b. The WLAN radio IC circuitry 706 amay include a receive signal path which may include circuitry todown-convert WLAN RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 704 a andprovide baseband signals to WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708 a. BTradio IC circuitry 706 b may in turn include a receive signal path whichmay include circuitry to down -convert BT RF signals received from theFEM circuitry 704 b and provide baseband signals to BT basebandprocessing circuitry 708 b. WLAN radio IC circuitry 706 a may alsoinclude a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convertWLAN baseband signals provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuitry708 a and provide WLAN RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 704 a forsubsequent wireless transmission by the one or more antennas 701. BTradio IC circuitry 706 b may also include a transmit signal path whichmay include circuitry to up-convert BT baseband signals provided by theBT baseband processing circuitry 708 b and provide BT RF output signalsto the FEM circuitry 704 b for subsequent wireless transmission by theone or more antennas 701. In the embodiment of FIG. 7, although radio ICcircuitries 706 a and 706 b are shown as being distinct from oneanother, embodiments are not so limited, and include within their scopethe use of a radio IC circuitry (not shown) that includes a transmitsignal path and/or a receive signal path for both WLAN and BT signals,or the use of one or more radio IC circuitries where at least some ofthe radio IC circuitries share transmit and/or receive signal paths forboth WLAN and BT signals.

Baseband processing circuity 708 a-b may include a WLAN basebandprocessing circuitry 708 a and a BT baseband processing circuitry 708 b.The WLAN baseband processing circuitry 708 a may include a memory, suchas, for example, a set of RAM arrays in a Fast Fourier Transform orInverse Fast Fourier Transform block (not shown) of the WLAN basebandprocessing circuitry 708 a. Each of the WLAN baseband circuitry 708 aand the BT baseband circuitry 708 b may further include one or moreprocessors and control logic to process the signals received from thecorresponding WLAN or BT receive signal path of the radio IC circuitry706 a-b, and to also generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signalsfor the transmit signal path of the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b. Each ofthe baseband processing circuitries 708 a and 708 b may further includephysical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry,and may further interface with a device for generation and processing ofthe baseband signals and for controlling operations of the radio ICcircuitry 706 a-b.

Referring still to FIG. 7, according to the shown embodiment, WLAN-BTcoexistence circuitry 713 may include logic providing an interfacebetween the WLAN baseband circuitry 708 a and the BT baseband circuitry708 b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. Inaddition, a switch 703 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuitry704 a and the BT FEM circuitry 704 b to allow switching between the WLANand BT radios according to application needs. In addition, although theantennas 701 are depicted as being respectively connected to the WLANFEM circuitry 704 a and the BT FEM circuitry 704 b, embodiments includewithin their scope the sharing of one or more antennas as between theWLAN and BT FEMs, or the provision of more than one antenna connected toeach of FEM 704 a or 704 b.

In some embodiments, the front-end module circuitry 704 a-b, the radioIC circuitry 706 a-b, and baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b may beprovided on a single radio card, such as wireless radio card 702. Insome other embodiments, the one or more antennas 701, the FEM circuitry704 a-b and the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b may be provided on a singleradio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 706 a-band the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b may be provided on asingle chip or integrated circuit (IC), such as IC 712.

In some embodiments, the wireless radio card 702 may include a WLANradio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some ofthese embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configuredto receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM)or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communicationsignals over a multicarrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMAsignals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some of these multicarrier embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105Bmay be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA) such as a wirelessaccess point (AP), a base station or a mobile device including a Wi-Fidevice. In some of these embodiments, radio architecture 105A, 105B maybe configured to transmit and receive signals in accordance withspecific communication standards and/or protocols, such as any of theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standardsincluding, 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016,802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay and/or 802.11axstandards and/or proposed specifications for WLANs, although the scopeof embodiments is not limited in this respect. Radio architecture 105A,105B may also be suitable to transmit and/or receive communications inaccordance with other techniques and standards.

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may be configuredfor high -efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with theIEEE 802.11ax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architecture105A, 105B may be configured to communicate in accordance with an OFDMAtechnique, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in thisrespect.

In some other embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may beconfigured to transmit and receive signals transmitted using one or moreother modulation techniques such as spread spectrum modulation (e.g.,direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and/or frequencyhopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time-divisionmultiplexing (TDM) modulation, and/or frequency-division multiplexing(FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limitedin this respect.

In some embodiments, as further shown in FIG. 6, the BT basebandcircuitry 708 b may be compliant with a Bluetooth (BT) connectivitystandard such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0 or Bluetooth 6.0, or any otheriteration of the Bluetooth Standard. In

In some embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B may include otherradio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular(e.g., 5GPP such as LTE, LTE-Advanced or 7G communications).

In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architecture 105A, 105B maybe configured for communication over various channel bandwidthsincluding bandwidths having center frequencies of about 900 MHz, 2.4GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of about 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz,8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (with contiguous bandwidths) or80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (with non-contiguous bandwidths). In someembodiments, a 920 MHz channel bandwidth may be used. The scope of theembodiments is not limited with respect to the above center frequencieshowever.

FIG. 8 illustrates WLAN FEM circuitry 704 a in accordance with someembodiments. Although the example of FIG. 8 is described in conjunctionwith the WLAN FEM circuitry 704 a, the example of FIG. 8 may bedescribed in conjunction with the example BT FEM circuitry 704 b (FIG.7), although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 704 a may include a TX/RX switch802 to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 704 a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704 a may include alow-noise amplifier (LNA) 806 to amplify received RF signals 803 andprovide the amplified received RF signals 807 as an output (e.g., to theradio IC circuitry 706 a-b (FIG. 7)). The transmit signal path of thecircuitry 704 a may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RFsignals 809 (e.g., provided by the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b), and oneor more filters 812, such as band-pass filters (BPFs), low-pass filters(LPFs) or other types of filters, to generate RF signals 815 forsubsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the antennas 701 (FIG.7)) via an example duplexer 814.

In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communication, the FEM circuitry704 a may be configured to operate in either the 2.4 GHz frequencyspectrum or the 5 GHz frequency spectrum. In these embodiments, thereceive signal path of the FEM circuitry 704 a may include a receivesignal path duplexer 804 to separate the signals from each spectrum aswell as provide a separate LNA 806 for each spectrum as shown. In theseembodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 704 a mayalso include a power amplifier 810 and a filter 812, such as a BPF, anLPF or another type of filter for each frequency spectrum and a transmitsignal path duplexer 804 to provide the signals of one of the differentspectrums onto a single transmit path for subsequent transmission by theone or more of the antennas 701 (FIG. 7). In some embodiments, BTcommunications may utilize the 2.4 GHz signal paths and may utilize thesame FEM circuitry 704 a as the one used for WLAN communications.

FIG. 9 illustrates radio IC circuitry 706 a in accordance with someembodiments. The radio IC circuitry 706 a is one example of circuitrythat may be suitable for use as the WLAN or BT radio IC circuitry 706a/706 b (FIG. 7), although other circuitry configurations may also besuitable. Alternatively, the example of FIG. 9 may be described inconjunction with the example BT radio IC circuitry 706 b.

In some embodiments, the radio IC circuitry 706 a may include a receivesignal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of theradio IC circuitry 706 a may include at least mixer circuitry 902, suchas, for example, down-conversion mixer circuitry, amplifier circuitry906 and filter circuitry 908. The transmit signal path of the radio ICcircuitry 706 a may include at least filter circuitry 912 and mixercircuitry 914, such as, for example, up-conversion mixer circuitry.Radio IC circuitry 706 a may also include synthesizer circuitry 904 forsynthesizing a frequency 905 for use by the mixer circuitry 902 and themixer circuitry 914. The mixer circuitry 902 and/or 914 may each,according to some embodiments, be configured to provide directconversion functionality. The latter type of circuitry presents a muchsimpler architecture as compared with standard super-heterodyne mixercircuitries, and any flicker noise brought about by the same may bealleviated for example through the use of OFDM modulation. FIG. 9illustrates only a simplified version of a radio IC circuitry, and mayinclude, although not shown, embodiments where each of the depictedcircuitries may include more than one component. For instance, mixercircuitry 914 may each include one or more mixers, and filtercircuitries 908 and/or 912 may each include one or more filters, such asone or more BPFs and/or LPFs according to application needs. Forexample, when mixer circuitries are of the direct-conversion type, theymay each include two or more mixers.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 902 may be configured todown-convert RF signals 807 received from the FEM circuitry 704 a-b(FIG. 7) based on the synthesized frequency 905 provided by synthesizercircuitry 904. The amplifier circuitry 906 may be configured to amplifythe down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 908 may include anLPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-convertedsignals to generate output baseband signals 907. Output baseband signals907 may be provided to the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b (FIG.7) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output basebandsignals 907 may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is nota requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 902 may comprisepassive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 914 may be configured toup-convert input baseband signals 911 based on the synthesized frequency905 provided by the synthesizer circuitry 904 to generate RF outputsignals 809 for the FEM circuitry 704 a-b. The baseband signals 911 maybe provided by the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b and may befiltered by filter circuitry 912. The filter circuitry 912 may includean LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedown-conversion and/or up -conversion respectively with the help ofsynthesizer 904. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and themixer circuitry 914 may each include two or more mixers each configuredfor image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In someembodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixer circuitry 914 may bearranged for direct down-conversion and/or direct up -conversion,respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 902 and the mixercircuitry 914 may be configured for super-heterodyne operation, althoughthis is not a requirement.

Mixer circuitry 902 may comprise, according to one embodiment:quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for the in-phase (I) and quadraturephase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, RF input signal 807 from FIG. 9may be down-converted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to besent to the baseband processor

Quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero and ninety-degreetime-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuitrywhich may be configured to receive a LO frequency (fLO) from a localoscillator or a synthesizer, such as LO frequency 905 of synthesizer 904(FIG. 9). In some embodiments, the LO frequency may be the carrierfrequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency may be afraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency,one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero andninety -degree time-varying switching signals may be generated by thesynthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect.

In some embodiments, the LO signals may differ in duty cycle (thepercentage of one period in which the LO signal is high) and/or offset(the difference between start points of the period). In someembodiments, the LO signals may have an 85% duty cycle and an 80%offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuitry (e.g.,the in-phase (I) and quadrature phase (Q) path) may operate at an 80%duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction is powerconsumption.

The RF input signal 807 (FIG. 8) may comprise a balanced signal,although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to low-noiseamplifier, such as amplifier circuitry 906 (FIG. 9) or to filtercircuitry 908 (FIG. 9).

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the inputbaseband signals 911 may be analog baseband signals, although the scopeof the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals 907 and the input basebandsignals 911 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternateembodiments, the radio IC circuitry may include analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, or for otherspectrums not mentioned here, although the scope of the embodiments isnot limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 904 may be a fractional-Nsynthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequencysynthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 904 maybe a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizercomprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According tosome embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 904 may include digitalsynthesizer circuitry. An advantage of using a digital synthesizercircuitry is that, although it may still include some analog components,its footprint may be scaled down much more than the footprint of ananalog synthesizer circuitry. In some embodiments, frequency input intosynthesizer circuity 904 may be provided by a voltage controlledoscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. A divider controlinput may further be provided by either the baseband processingcircuitry 708 a-b (FIG. 7) depending on the desired output frequency905. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on achannel number and a channel center frequency as determined or indicatedby the example application processor 710. The application processor 710may include, or otherwise be connected to, one of the example securesignal converter 101 or the example received signal converter 103 (e.g.,depending on which device the example radio architecture is implementedin).

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 904 may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 905, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a fraction of the carrierfrequency (e.g., one-half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrierfrequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 905 may be a LOfrequency (fLO).

FIG. 10 illustrates a functional block diagram of baseband processingcircuitry 708 a in accordance with some embodiments. The basebandprocessing circuitry 708 a is one example of circuitry that may besuitable for use as the baseband processing circuitry 708 a (FIG. 7),although other circuitry configurations may also be suitable.Alternatively, the example of FIG. 9 may be used to implement theexample BT baseband processing circuitry 708 b of FIG. 7.

The baseband processing circuitry 708 a may include a receive basebandprocessor (RX BBP) 1002 for processing receive baseband signals 909provided by the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b (FIG. 7) and a transmitbaseband processor (TX BBP) 1004 for generating transmit basebandsignals 911 for the radio IC circuitry 706 a-b. The baseband processingcircuitry 708 a may also include control logic 1006 for coordinating theoperations of the baseband processing circuitry 708 a.

In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchangedbetween the baseband processing circuitry 708 a-b and the radio ICcircuitry 706 a-b), the baseband processing circuitry 708 a may includeADC 1010 to convert analog baseband signals 1009 received from the radioIC circuitry 706 a-b to digital baseband signals for processing by theRX BBP 1002. In these embodiments, the baseband processing circuitry 708a may also include DAC 1012 to convert digital baseband signals from theTX BBP 1004 to analog baseband signals 1011.

In some embodiments that communicate OFDM signals or OFDMA signals, suchas through baseband processor 708 a, the transmit baseband processor1004 may be configured to generate OFDM or OFDMA signals as appropriatefor transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT).The receive baseband processor 1002 may be configured to processreceived OFDM signals or OFDMA signals by performing an FFT. In someembodiments, the receive baseband processor 1002 may be configured todetect the presence of an OFDM signal or OFDMA signal by performing anautocorrelation, to detect a preamble, such as a short preamble, and byperforming a cross-correlation, to detect a long preamble. The preamblesmay be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communication.

Referring back to FIG. 7, in some embodiments, the antennas 701 (FIG. 7)may each comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas,including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patchantennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennassuitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectivelyseparated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the differentchannel characteristics that may result. Antennas 701 may each include aset of phased-array antennas, although embodiments are not so limited.

Although the radio architecture 105A, 105B is illustrated as havingseveral separate functional elements, one or more of the functionalelements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations ofsoftware-configured elements, such as processing elements includingdigital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. Forexample, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs,field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) andcombinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing atleast the functions described herein. In some embodiments, thefunctional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on oneor more processing elements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A device, the device comprising processingcircuitry coupled to storage, the processing circuitry configured to:cause to send a trigger frame that solicits poll response to one or moreanchor stations involved in a passive ranging measurement; identify oneor more polling response frames received from the one or more anchorstations; cause to send a trigger frame that solicits uplink null datapacket (NDP) to one or more anchor stations, wherein the uplink NDPcomprises an indication of an high efficiency (HE) single user (SU)frame type; and identify one or more uplink NDPs received from the oneor more anchor stations.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the triggerframe that solicits uplink null data packet (NDP) triggers a firstanchor station of the one or more anchor stations to send uplink NDP. 3.The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more uplink NDPs arehigh-efficiency sounding NDP physical layer convergence protocol dataunits (PPDUs) associated with the SU frame type.
 4. The device of claim1, wherein the SU frame type indicates to a passive client device acapability to decode the uplink NDP.
 5. The device of claim 4, whereintiming information associated with uplink NDP is used to assist thepassive client device to determine its location.
 6. The device of claim3, wherein a first high-efficiency sounding NDP physical layerconvergence protocol data unit (PPDU) comprises a high-efficiency signalA (HE-SIG-A) field.
 7. The device of claim 6, wherein the HE-SIG-A fieldis set by the trigger frame that solicits the UL NDP.
 8. The device ofclaim 6, wherein the HE-SIG-A field is included in a common informationfield of the trigger frame that solicits the UL NDP.
 9. The device ofclaim 1, further comprising a transceiver configured to transmit andreceive wireless signals.
 10. The device of claim 9, further comprisingan antenna coupled to the transceiver to cause to send the trigger framethat solicits poll response.
 11. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing computer-executable instructions which when executed byone or more processors result in performing operations comprising:causing to send a trigger frame that solicits poll response to one ormore anchor stations involved in a passive ranging measurement;identifying one or more polling response frames received from the one ormore anchor stations; causing to send a trigger frame that solicitsuplink null data packet (NDP) to one or more anchor stations, whereinthe uplink NDP comprises an indication of an high efficiency (HE) singleuser (SU) frame type; and identifying one or more uplink NDPs receivedfrom the one or more anchor stations.
 12. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the trigger frame thatsolicits UL NDP triggers a first anchor station of the one or moreanchor stations to send uplink NDP.
 13. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the one or more uplinkNDPs are high-efficiency sounding NDP physical layer convergenceprotocol data units (PPDUs) associated with the SU frame type.
 14. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the SUframe type indicates to a passive client device a capability to decodethe uplink NDP.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim14, wherein timing information of uplink NDP is used to assist thepassive client device to determine its location.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein a first high -efficiencysounding NDP physical layer convergence protocol data unit (PPDU)comprises a high-efficiency signal A (HE-SIG-A) field.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein theHE-SIG-A field is set by the trigger frame that solicits the UL NDP. 18.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein theHE-SIG-A field is included in a common information field of the triggerframe that solicits the UL NDP.
 19. A method comprising: causing to senda trigger frame that solicits poll response to one or more anchorstations involved in a ranging determination; identifying one or morepolling response frames received from the one or more anchor stations;causing to send a trigger frame that solicits uplink null data packet(NDP) to one or more anchor stations, wherein the uplink NDP comprisesan indication of a high efficiency (HE) single user (SU) frame type; andidentifying one or more uplink NDPs received from the one or more anchorstations.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the trigger frame thatsolicits uplink NDP triggers a first anchor station of the one or moreanchor stations to send uplink NDP.